ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the practice of photographing the grave site and circulating it on Facebook – a practice that many of the Facebook users in this study engaged very actively in, and one that, in general, seems quite common on Facebook. It explores the practice of taking and sharing images of the grave site by investigating the visual expression of the images shared, the incentives for sharing them and the cultural meaning and significance that can be attached to them. The chapter argues that sharing images of a grave site can be interpreted as a semi-public practice that serves to keep a loved one present in one's ongoing, everyday life. However, mourning through one's personal Facebook profile enables mourners to let the deceased relative and mourning become part of their ongoing, everyday digital life. Photography serves as a connecting force that can help instantiate and create relational proximity by gathering loved ones within the same picture frame.
